Effect of the Holiday Season on Weight Gain: A Narrative Review
Table 2
Studies evaluating the effect of the holiday period on body weight in adults attempting to lose weight or motivated self-monitoring people.
Author, year, and country
Number of participants, age, sex, BMI, and prevalence of overweight/obesity
Date of measurements
Sample, masking of participants,
Mean weight change ± SD
p value
Andersson and Rössner 1992 Sweden
46 adults 20–70 years
Men = 28% Women = 72% BMI = kg/m2 Obese = 100%
76 adults 20–70 years
Men = 28% Women = 72% BMI = kg/m2 Obesity not reported
Initial measurement: before Christmas.
Final measurement: after January 6th.
(3 weeks between data collected).
Subjects participating in a maintenance program for obesity. Masking only in this group.
Subjects from the hospital staff who participated as control group (not attempting to lose weight).
Yes.
Retention not reported.
kg
kg
NS
Boutelle et al. 1999 United States
57 adults years
Men = 28% Women = 72%
BMI = kg/m2
Obese = 100% (initial BMI kg/m2 and a mean weight loss of kg)
Specific dates not reported, but describe changes during 8 weeks of holiday season (early December to last days of January).
Subjects participating in long-term cognitive-behavioral treatment program, assigned to receive an intervention for improving consistency of self-monitoring.
Subjects participating in long-term cognitive-behavioral treatment program without receiving the intervention for improving consistency of self-monitoring.
No.
Retention 88%.
kg
kg
(between groups comparisons)
Watras et al. 2007 United States
22 adults 18–44 years
Men = 23% Women = 77% BMI = kg/m2 Overweight = 100%
18 adults 18–44 years
Men = 17% Women = 83% BMI = kg/m2 Overweight = 100%
Specific dates of measurements not described, but reported the increase in kg/month during holiday season (November and December).
Subjects who participated in a randomized trial evaluating conjugated linoleic acid for fat loss
Subjects from the placebo control group.
No.
Retention 83%.
−0.1 kg
0.6 kg
(between groups comparisons)
Squires
2007
United States
217 adults
Age, sex, BMI, and prevalence of overweight/obesity not reported
Initial measurement: at the beginning of the challenge.
Final measurement: at the end of the challenge.
(data collected between Thanksgiving and New Year).
Subjects participating in a weight maintenance challenge.
No.
Retention 75%.
−1.0 kg
NR
Phelan et al. 2008 United States
167 adults years
Men = 25% Women = 75% BMI = kg/m2
Obese = 100%, (maximum BMI = kg/m2 and a mean weight loss of kg)
90 adults years
Men = 25% Women = 75% BMI = kg/m2 Normal weight = 100%
Initial measurement: early November.
After holiday measurement: early January.
Successful weight losers from the National Weight Control Registry.
Normal weight individuals not attempting to lose weight.
No.
Retention 94% and 89%.
kg
kg
NS
NS
García et al. 2013. Spain
215 adults
14–70 years
Men = 37% Women = 63%
BMI = kg/m2
Overweight or obese = 100%
Initial measurement: a couple of days before December 25th.
Final measurement: a couple of days after January 5th.
(2 weeks between measurements).
Individuals receiving treatment for obesity
No.
From 258 patients, 215 were measured on both occasions.
kg
Helander et al. 2016.
United States, Germany and Japan
United States: 1781 adults Age = 42.2 years
Men = 66% Women = 34% BMI = kg/m2 Obese = 24%
Germany: 760 adults Age = 42.9 years
Men = 66% Women = 34% BMI = kg/m2 Obese = 19%
Japan: 383 adults Age = 41.6 years
Men = 74% Women = 26% BMI = kg/m2 Obese = 11%
Initial measurement: ten days before Christmas.
Final measurement: ten days after Christmas.
From a random sample of 10,000 Withings weight scale users, 2924 subjects were analyzed after the exclusion criteria were applied.
Yes.
United States: 0.4% kg
Germany: 0.6% kg
Japan: 0.5% kg
Weight of participants in all studies was measured as part of the study, except for Andersson and Rössner 1992 (self-report in individual charts), Phelan et al. 2008 (self-report via questionnaire), and Helander et al. 2016 (scale saves the weight of the individual and sends it to network servers). Masking: the participants did not know that the study objective was to evaluate the effect of holidays on obesity parameters; p value derived from comparisons before and after analysis, except when specified; SD not reported. Weight reported by percent of weight, because authors of the study did not report kilograms; BMI: body mass index. NS: not significant. NR: not reported.
